2021-04-17: News Headlines

RT (2021-04-18). Iran Says It's Identified Suspect Behind 'Explosion' At Natanz Nuclear Site. eurasiareview.com Iran's intelligence service has named a suspect in the 'explosion' that damaged the Natanz power plant last week. It says the culprit, identified as a man from a town near the nuclear facility, has already fled the country. | "Reza Karimi, the perpetrator of this sabotage… has been identified" by the intelligence ministry, Iranian state television announced on Saturday. | Karimi was described in the report as a 43-year-old male who was born in the town of Kashan, not far from the Natanz facility. | Tehran had earlier blamed the incident on its arch-rival Israel and promised to retaliate. The Jewish state, wh…

_____ (2021-04-17). Journalists Learn They Spread A CIA Fraud About Russia. popularresistance.org That Russia placed "bounties" on the heads of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan was one of the most-discussed and consequential news stories of 2020. It was also, as it turns out, one of the most baseless — as the intelligence agencies who spread it through their media spokespeople now admit, largely because the tale has fulfilled and outlived its purpose. | The saga began on June 26, 2020, when The New York Times announced that unnamed "American intelligence officials" have concluded that "a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in…

teleSUR Desk (2021-04-17). Supreme Court confirms annulment of all charges against Lula. mronline.org Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday ratified the decision adopted by one of its judges, who annulled the sentences handed down in the first place against former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. | April 17, 2021 | Newswire…

Anonymous103 (2021-04-17). Declassified: CIA Plotted Assassination Of Cuba's Raul Castro. southfront.org Raul Castro Source: Twitter | According to the declassified documents, the CIA attempted to assassinate Raul Castro, the younger brother of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, in 1960. The top secret documents were published on the The report claims that CIA recruited the pilot, Jose Raul Martinez, in Cuba. On July 21, 196…

Anonymous669 (2021-04-17). Meet Reza Karimi, Iran Identified The Natanz Bomber. southfront.org File image | On April 16, the Ministry of Intelligence of Iran identified the man behind the recent

Jose Manuel Blanco Diaz (2021-04-17). Confirmed! Lula Totally Acquitted, Can Run for President Again. orinocotribune.com With a vote of eight judges in favor and three against, Brazilian leader Luis Inazio Lula da Silva received confirmation of his complete acquittal on the charges laid against him regarding alleged acts of corruption in the infamous Lava Jato case. | With this decision by a majority of the plenary session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the court determined that the 13th Court of Curitiba, through which they issued the sentence, is incompetent to rule on the case. | For this reason, the sentences imposed by this body, through Judge Sergio Moro, were annulled, and if any of the…

P. K. Balachandran (2021-04-17). Have US Sanctions Been Effective? — Analysis. eurasiareview.com Studies reveal that despite the increasing popularity of sanctions as a US foreign policy tool, their effectiveness is in serious doubt: | On Thursday, April 15, US President Joe Biden imposed a new round of sanctions against Russia. The Treasury Department blacklisted six Russian technology companies that supported the cyber program run by Russia's intelligence services. Eight persons and entities associated with Russia's actions in Crimea were also sanctioned as were 32 entities and individuals who had allegedly carried out Russian government-directed attempts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential…

Jeremy Kuzmarov (2021-04-16). Biden isn't ending the Afghanistan War, he's privatizing it: Special Forces, Pentagon contractors, intelligence operatives will remain. thegrayzone.com Over 18,000 Pentagon contractors remain in Afghanistan, while official troops number 2,500. Joe Biden will withdraw this smaller group of soldiers while leaving behind US Special Forces, mercenaries, and intelligence operatives — privatizing and downscaling the war, but not ending it. (This article was originally published at CovertAction Magazine.) On April 14, President Joe Biden announced that he would end the U.S.'s longest war and withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan on the 20th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist …

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2021-04-16). Nobel Laureate Warns of 'Devastating Marriage' Between Artificial Intelligence and Killer Robots. commondreams.org "The biggest threats are the 'modernization' of nuclear weapons and the new 'revolution' of weapons," says Peace Prize winner Jody Williams. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/jody-williams-killer-robots-marriage.jpg

Anonymous669 (2021-04-16). Daraa: Four Intelligence Officers, Former Rebels Targeted In Separate Attacks. southfront.org Illustrative image | On April 16 and 17, three attacks targeted Syrian intelligence officers and former rebels in the southern governorate of Daraa. | The first attack targeted Yasin Juma'a al-Aboud. Unidentified gunmen shot and killed the former rebel, known as "al-Nisr" [the Eagle], on a road linking the towns of Om Elmiathin and Elnaymah in eastern Daraa on April 16. Al-Aboud, a former fighter of the Free Syrian Army, joined the reconciliation process in 2018. Since then, he has been leading a unit of the Syri…

Medea Benjamin, Ariel Gold (2021-04-16). The Hawks Who Want War With Iran Are Working Overtime. counterpunch.org Just as talks between the US and Iran were taking place last week in Vienna, a cyberattack was carried out on Iran's Natanz nuclear facility. Reports are that the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, was behind the attack that blacked out the facility just one day after Tehran launched new advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges and as

WSWS (2021-04-16). Julian Assange mural unveiled in Berlin. wsws.org The Captain Borderline mural is a powerful reminder of the real issues involved in the persecution of Assange, and of the real forces being deployed against him.

_____ (2021-04-16). Scheer Intelligence: Capitalism Killed The Rock-and-Roll Star. popularresistance.org Jonathan Taplin may not be a household name, but he has been behind the scenes of some of the most influential moments in 20th century American music. As the description of Taplin's latest book notes, the University of Southern California professor emeritus has made waves in every one of the past several decades: "he was tour manager for Bob Dylan and the Band in the '60s, producer of major films in the '70s, an executive at Merrill Lynch in the '80s, creator of the Internet's first video-on-demand service in the '90s, and a cultural critic and author writing about technology in the new millennium." Taplin joins…

ecns.cn (2021-04-16). AI-powered platform translates speech into text for hearing-impaired. ecns.cn A working platform using artificial intelligence (AI) has been launched in China, offering voice-to-text services so that hearing-impaired people can read speeches given during video conferences, livestreaming events and online courses.

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